In this post, I am going to show you how you can use Instagram to grow your network marketing business without cold messaging or chasing leads. You will also discover how to expand your network on autopilot through email marketing.
If you are in network marketing and are not using Instagram, you are missing out! Instagram is a highly engaging platform where you can meet like-minded people pretty quickly. In this post, I will share my most effective strategies to build relationships and prospect without cold messaging or chasing leads.
Before I get started with these practical tips, I recommend you keep a list of the people you will be interacting with using the techniques I will show you. If you want to grow your network marketing business on Instagram, you need to get organized and keep track of who has been interacting with you. Make sure you interact back with these people. That’s how you will get to know their needs. Remember, network marketing is about relationships. With time you can also learn to grow your mailing list from Instagram, that’s another excellent option to build your network marketing business. Learn more in my Instagram Workshop:
Instagram Stories for Your Network Marketing Business
Of all the ways you can build your network marketing business on Instagram, your Stories is the one you should start implementing today! Instagram Stories are fun and personal; they allow you to bond with your audience and learn what you should be posting on your account. Here’s what you should be doing on your Stories:
Value-added content
Use your stories the same way you would your feed and educate your audience. Give your followers useful information that will make them want to come back for more. Depending on your niche, you could share recipes, food prep tips, workout move ideas, money-saving tips, health info. It all depends on the audience you are trying to reach. Learn more about picking the right niche for you in my post How to Pick a Profitable Niche for Your Online Business. I will show you how you can use your stories to know exactly what you should be posting soon, so stick around.
Hashtags
When you offer great tips and info, it’s a good idea to add hashtags to your Stories. It will help you gain more views and hopefully grow your audience. Did you know you can have up to 10 hashtags in your stories. Experiment with hashtags on your stories, I have found some hashtags will double and even triple the number of viewers I get, but some don’t make a difference at all.
Captions
As much as possible, write captions for your Stories. Many people watch them without sound. Writing captions will make it easier for them to keep watching.
Relatable content
Show your face regularly in your Stories. If you want to grow your network marketing business on Instagram, you must know that your business is all about relationships on social media as well. Showing your face and talking about your daily activities is an excellent way to attract the right persons to you. They will relate to what you are saying and will enjoy following you and getting to know you.
There is only one you. You are unique and you will attract and repel people. Just be you and see what happens!
Polls
I love using polls, they work so well! Here’s how you can use them:
1- To know what your audience wants to see on your account:
Ask your followers what topics would be most helpful to them. Once you have picked your niche, you might be wondering what categories would be most beneficial to the ideal customer that you should use for your Content Buckets.
Decide on some content categories (buckets) ideas, and ask your audience what they want to see most between two options using the Stories Polls feature.
2- To get to know your followers:
There are two ways you can do this:
- You can ask your followers what they think about different things or if they can relate to what you are feeling.
- You can simply message them when they vote on your polls and start conversations. These types of conversations are not odd or awkward the same way cold messaging would be. Your followers have already interacted with your content, so it’s the logical next step that you would be in touch with them to get to know them better.
3- To present your products and/or business opportunity to your followers:
Polls on your Stories are the quickest way to be able to prospect your followers. Give them some context and tell them precisely what they can gain from whatever you are offering. Educate them. Then, have a poll to ask them if they would like to benefit from whatever you were talking about or if they would like to learn more about it. I have even asked if they would like to watch a short video about whatever I was sharing, and I found this strategy to be very effective. Then, all you need to do is to share your video with everyone who voted on your poll. No chasing leads required! Obviously, in this case, I would recommend you have two options that lend to watching the video like: “More Info Please” and “Send Me the Video.”
Transformation stories
You can share success stories and transformation stories. Before and after pictures, written testimonials, and even better, sharing your own experience will give your audience an idea of what is possible. Don’t underestimate the power of testimonies! Using a poll at the end of the success stories is the best way to invite your followers to take action and ask for more info.
Events
Whenever there is an event to share more info about your products and/or opportunity, you can invite your followers to join. And I don’t mean events like company conventions, I mean Facebook events that will educate your prospects on the benefits of whatever you are offering. Most companies have online events or zoom meetings.
Resources
Talks about other accounts that would be helpful to your audience. Mention books, podcasts, videos. Anything that would bring value and help them solve their problems. If you learn something or if you find a resource that inspires you, share it in your Stories.
For example, you could create a list of all your favorite podcasts. Another week, create a list of the most helpful books you have read. Or even the most entertaining books and movies you have enjoyed. People love this kind of information, and they will come back to your Stories for more.
Ask Me a Question
Ask Me a Question is another of my favorite features to grow your network marketing business on Instagram. For a more detailed explanation of the technical steps to use it, read this article.
Here, let me just show you what the sticker looks like on your stories, it’s the sticker that says Questions.
To get interactions from your followers
The most obvious advantage is being able to answer your followers’ questions. When you use the sticker as is, it will say Ask me a question. In this case, you can share the responses in your Stories and answer the questions. It’s a fun feature that creates a lot of interactions.
For topic ideas
Another thing you can do is change the heading for anything you would like to talk about. You can ask your followers to give you topic ideas for your posts, to tell you what they struggle with, or anything you want to ask them. So basically, instead of your followers asking you questions, you are the one asking a question.
For email addresses or phone numbers
Something else that network marketers have done successfully to grow their network marketing business on Instagram using the sticker Ask Me a Question is to ask for their followers’ email addresses or text numbers. I love the fact that this strategy helps you bring your followers closer to taking the next step with you, which might be to hop on the call, for example.
Conversations with your viewers
Instagram Stories have lots of fun features that can help you get to know your followers, and encourage them to ask for more info on the products or opportunity you are offering. However, even without all the features, remember that your regular viewers are much warmer leads than any other of your Instagram followers. Why not make it a habit to interact with your viewers? Watch their Stories and react whenever you can. Strike up a conversation! They will most likely be a lot more open to watching your video whenever you decide to prospect them.
For more inspiration on using Instagram Stories to build your network marketing business, read How to Use Instagram Stories to Build Your Audience.
Email Marketing for Your Network Business
This section is my favorite! Why? Because I want you to realize that even though Instagram is the best platform right now to build your network marketing business, it doesn’t belong to you. You could lose your account without warning. There are many such stories like this one, and most of them are not the result of using a generic handle name. That’s where list building comes in. If you are going to use Instagram to grow your network marketing business, I want you to use it to build an email list as well.
Learn more in my Instagram Workshop:
List Building
List Building is the ultimate way to grow your network marketing business on Instagram. Basically, what you need to do is to offer a simple PDF or video series to help your followers solve their problems. Put the link in your bio, and mention it in the context of your Stories, your feed, and your videos. If your freebie is what your audience is looking for, you will notice that anytime you mention it, people are signing up.
Email marketing is huge for bloggers, but it shouldn’t be limited to bloggers. You can monetize your mailing list in many ways, and it’s not just about your network marketing business. Network marketers would do well to use some strategies bloggers use to grow their businesses as well.
If you are looking for true time freedom, finding ways to automate expanding your network and growing your influence is key. It all starts with creating a lead magnet for list-building purposes. Not only you will have the advantage of getting to know your audience better when you see what lead magnets are more popular, but you will have the potential to create other income streams as your mailing list grows.
Calls to Connect with Your Instagram Followers and Grow Your Network Marketing Business
Hoping on calls with prospects has been vastly neglected by network marketers in recent years. So many network marketers copy and paste messages non-stop, and needless to say, don’t see much results.
Calls convert better; it’s just a fact. I was recently listening to Amy Porterfield’s most recent podcast, and she was interviewing someone who was able to monetize a small email list (750 subscribers the first time). What was her secret? Individual conversations! She scheduled calls, sent personalized videos, got her subscribers to reply to her emails, etc. Network marketers need to learn from this and stop sending copy-and-paste cold messages to their leads. Instead, invite your Instagram followers to hop on a call with you. Growing your network marketing business on Instagram is still about relationships.
Live Videos
Many network marketers swear by live videos. Live videos help create that like-and-trust factor. You can use live videos to build your brand online. Now that Stories have grown in popularity, I have found that live videos are not as effective as they used to be. Particularly on Instagram, where users watch Stories more than they watch live videos. Not only that, but live videos stay on the platform for 24 hours only. It would make more sense to post a video on IGTV instead, and your video will always be available for your viewers. However, I wanted to mention live videos because, unlike IGTV, they allow you to interact with your audience in real-time. And that’s where the fun begins! Here are a few ways you can use Live Videos on Instagram:
Demonstrate a Product in Use:
Showing your audience exactly how you use your products in the form of a how-to video can be an effective strategy. People also get to ask you questions, which makes the video even more informative.
Host a Q&A or an Interview:
Your audience will be able to actively engage, and people love that! When your viewers comment, everyone can see and participate.
Highlight Events:
If you attend a conference, for example, your viewers would be able to ask you questions they would like to ask the speaker.
Giveaways:
Show your followers how you pick the winner and announce his or her name live!
IGTV
IGTV has gained some momentum since the first 60 seconds of your videos have been appearing on your feed. It’s a great way to provide more useful content and help your followers reach their goals. Like other forms of videos, IGTV creates a more genuine connection with your viewers.
I love these 6 Ways to Use IGTV for Business.
You can re-purpose existing videos using apps like InShot. You can produce exclusive content like video tutorials, you can tell your story, and you can use IGTV for a recurring show (my favorite idea). With a recurring show, your audience knows what to expect, and it will help to get more engagement on your videos.
Your Instagram Feed for Your Network Marketing Business
Although many Instagram users watch Stories more than they scroll through their feeds, your feed still represents an excellent opportunity to build your brand. When people look at your profile, the first thing they notice is your feed. They can quickly glance at your pictures to decide if they want to follow you.
Each time you post to your feed, you get many more comments than you get reactions on your Instagram Stories. Take advantage of these comments to engage with your followers. Ask them questions, and always respond to comments on your posts. Your feed can also be a way to create engagement and excitement about your network marketing business. You need to do it in a clever way by talking about it in the context of your life (similarly to what you would do in your stories).
If you are running out of ideas to know what to post on your Instagram account, read What to Post on Instagram to Get the Most Engagement and Grow Your Account.
In Summary
There are lots of ways to grow your network marketing business on Instagram without sending awkward messages to random people. People don’t enjoy getting copy-and-paste messages even if it’s just to introduce yourself. I don’t recommend you do it. Instead, use the strategies above to get to know your followers and start building your mailing list.
You will learn my exact step-by-step formula in my Instagram Workshop: